A High Elf's Journey
by Garret Stewart
Summary: Silhana Goldenlight,a veteran of the Second War and a loyal member of the Alliance, is tasked by the Silver Covenant to infiltrate the city of Silvermoon. She agreed to embark on this dangerous quest in order to seek out a long lost friend that aligned herself with the Blood Elves after the re-opening of the Dark Portal. Post-Cataclysm era.
1. Prologue

A High Elf's Journey

Prologue

I hid under the bushes as Forsaken guards marched at my direction. My head flinched as the scent of the undead warriors whiffed through my nose. I've fought Orcs, Trolls and Ogres during the Second War but none of them reeked as much as these… people. Orcs, Trolls and Ogres, thinking about these creatures makes me wonder. Since when did Quel'Thalas ally with the Horde?

The sole reason why I joined the expedition beyond The Dark Portal is to make sure the Orcs won't destroy my homeland again. Under the leadership of Alleria Windrunner I ventured the dangerous home world of the Orcs. It's funny looking back then I wasn't even qualified to join the expedition because of my age. I just turned a hundred and ten years old and some of the senior officers still see me as a child and doesn't want me getting in the way or have me inconveniently killed in the battlefield. I can't blame them reaching my maximum height at five feet and four inches I'm no bigger than a human female and certainly no taller than an adolescent Elf. Not to mention I wasn't exactly a ranger. If it wasn't for my friend, Kylina Alah'Zaram, I wouldn't be recruited. She convinced them that I'm an excellent hunter and that I'm instrumental in fending off the Trolls and Orcs that attacked our village. Of course it wasn't all true. Sure I shot some of the attackers with my arrows but, I was too late to save my family from the attack. I was out hunting for game when the attack happened. The general consensus about the Second War is that it's only a human matter and the Orcs wouldn't reach Quel'Thalas so everyone was caught by surprise when the Orcs came.

I came back to my village only to see my neighbors being massacred by the Horde. I took an arrow from my quiver, load it to my bow pulled back the string to its limit and then I let go at the first enemy I see. The arrow flew into the air and shot an unsuspecting Troll at the back of his head. I shot down a couple more unsuspecting Orcs and Trolls before one big Orc saw me as a threat and charge at me with all his might. I shot him with my arrows but that didn't stop him. He didn't seem to mind the fact that arrows are stuck to his body like a pin cushion. The Orc held his axe high above he's head preparing to split me in half. The Orc yelled a battle cry and then proceeded to swing the axe. In response, I froze and closed my eyes out of fear until I heard the sound of two steels clashing together. I opened my eyes and saw Kylina blocking the axe with her great-sword dressed in full plate armor. She repelled the Orc's attack after which she yelled at me, "Run to your house now! Your family is in danger!" I got my body moving again so I ran to my house with all my might but still I was too late save them. I saw my mother's dead body being held by father, he wasn't looking good either. A couple of dead Orcs and Trolls are lying around and a bloodied sword is in my father's hand suggesting that he fought the attackers as much as he can. My father looked up to me. His face filled with rage. "Make those Orcs pay! Your mother deserves a death better than this!" he ordered. That's the very last thing my father had said to me before he died. Those are also the words that made join the expedition in the first place.

"Kylina Alah'Zaram." One of the Forsaken guards suddenly turned his head around looking for something. I accidentally whispered her name without realizing it and the guard must have heard it. "What's the matter?" asked by the other guard beside him. "I think I heard something" replied the questioned guard. Now all the guards are looking around. One of them even made it near the bush I was hiding in. I slipped away just before one of them looked at my former hiding place. "Nothing's here!" complained the guard near the bushes. "We've patrolled this route long enough! Let's go back to Tranquillen, you probably just imagined things out of boredom" said by the corpse in charge. "Maybe" replied by his underling. Once they were out of sight a sigh of relief exited my mouth and then I proceeded on walking on the path to Tranquillen.

Kylina Alah'Zaram, simply mentioning her name brings back a lot of memories. One particular event comes to mind, it was ten years after the destruction of the Dark Portal and a feast was held to celebrate our victory over Horde. At the feast the Dwarves served the ale they brewed, the Humans cooked brought food and sang songs while the Elves shared the meat taken from the animals they hunted. It was a truly fun evening and evening such as these are important for us to forget the fact that we are stranded in a strange land with no way of seeing our homes again. I took some Dwarven ale and a piece of roasted meat to give to Kylina who volunteered to stay on guard duty. As I was heading to her post, a tall Human soldier suddenly popped behind me. "What do you have there little lady, dinner for me?" says the soldier. I can tell by his scent that he's drunk so I ignored him and continued walking to my destination. "Where are you going? I just want to talk." The soldier followed me until the crowd can't see us anymore. "Hey! Stop walking!" I kept on walking. "I said stop walking!" The soldier grabbed me by my arms and slammed me to the ground. I called for help but the others are either too loud or too drunk to hear me. This soldier is really good at pinning people down, I can't budge. His weight is on top of me and he's holding my hands down to the ground. "Listen here little lady, when I say stop walking you stop walking!" His breath reeks of alcohol; I turned my face away from his mouth as much as I can. "It's been ten years since I last saw my wife; do you know how it feels like, for a man to not get some action for ten years?" As the soldier tries to take off his trousers a gigantic blade swoops through his neck causing his head to roll down the ground and his body to fall off my body. It was Kylina. "Silhana! Did you forget your training? Why did you let a drunken man get advantage over you?" She paused when she saw my face. She probably saw the tears that had been falling from my eyes during the whole ordeal. Yes, I have faced Orcs, Trolls, and Ogres that can wield magic and undead Death Knights but that whole experience is still terrifying. The feeling of helplessness combined with the idea of my body being exploited by a stranger truly terrifies me. "Silhana get over it. The guy is dead, he can't harm you anymore." She took out a cloth and wiped the tears off my eyes. "Now that I mentioned it, what are we going to do with his body? The Humans would probably become hysterical over this." To make the long story short, we decided to take the soldier's body outside of the safe zone and made it look like an Orc attack by leaving signs of struggle and damage on the surrounding area. I also cleaned the blood off the surfaces it dripped on. We finished all the work before sunrise. Kylina invited me to sit with her on top of a guard tower to watch the sunrise. That is when she told me the words that will keep me alive to this day. "I love you Silhana, I swear that I will keep you alive until we can both return to our city of Silvermoon."


	2. Chapter 1

A High Elf's Journey

Chapter 1

"Silhana, stand up!" commanded by my friend, Kylina, during one of our days in the Allerian Stronghold. "Pick up that sword and get back to your stance!" I picked up my sword and then proceeded to stand up. "By the Light, Kylina I'm just no good with a sword. Maybe, I'll just stick to my bow." I told her. I can see signs of irritation in her face. So, I asked, "What's the matter?" "You've been spending so much time with that human paladin that you've started quoting the Light." "Does it bother you?" I asked sincerely. "It doesn't matter." She said before striking me with her sword.

The sound of two metals clashing in my dream woke me up. The sun has already risen above my head. I ended up sleeping on top of a dead tree just outside of Tranquillen. I want to prevent any suspicion to be directed against me and a lady sneaking into the town late at night is very suspicious. I got down from the tree I was sleeping in and hid behind it as I changed my clothing. I took out the clothing the Silver Covenant had given me; it was a red cloak, a red shirt and black pants. I then stripped off my clothing, which included a green cloak and dark blue shirt and pants, and my leather armor. I put on the clothing from the Silver Covenant and placed my armor on top of it revealing a little bit of red. I also put on the cloak to conceal my face to blend in with the crowd. The only physical difference between a High Elf and Blood Elf is the glow their eyes emit. The High Elves retained the original color of our eyes, blue, and the Blood Elves developed the color green because of the consumption of fel magic. So, in theory, I should be able blend in with the other Blood Elves as long as I cover my eyes and wear red clothes. I put on the visor I bought from a Goblin merchant; he said it would shield my "beautiful eyes" from the harmful rays of the sun. It's black and it covers the color of my eyes even though they still show a faint glow. I'm sure no one would notice it as long as I just act like a Blood Elf. But how do you act like a Blood Elf? I wouldn't have to absorb fel magic, do I? Besides the factions, the fel magic addiction, and the color red what else differs a Blood Elf to a High Elf? I looked up at the sun's position again and realized that I have overslept. It's already an hour after noon so I started walking to Tranquillen. I don't want to stay in Tranquillen anymore than I have to, too much Undead for my taste.

It only took me a moment to reach Tranquillen from my former location. I got to say, I'm surprised with the number of the Forsaken in this town and even more surprised with the Blood Elves co-existing with them. I remember the days when Humans and Dwarves aren't even step inside Elven lands and when High Elves can't even speak to them without a making a face like they're holding in a vomit. I guess witnessing the decimation of your entire race would give a quick change on things. I thought about my experiences during the Second War both in Azeroth and beyond the Dark Portal and compared it to their experience fighting for their lives against the Scourge. They have seen so much more misery than I ever have.

I continued walking until I reached the center of the town where the famous statue of the two women dancing. My father used to bring me here when we're selling the hides of the animals we hunted. I always saw this place as a lively place with people walking around, talking to their neighbors, and children running around playing games, but now, not so much. This town has turned into a military town with Forsaken and Blood Elf guards stationed everywhere. Although, because of the defeat of the Scourge they aren't as alert as my officers told me, which is a good thing for me. "Lady, if you kept on staring at me like that I might just melt." I didn't realize I was staring at a Forsaken soldier. "So… Sorry" I gasped. He looked at me with his lifeless eyes. He expresses a surprised look in his rotting face. "You speak Common?" he asked with a shocked tone. "And without an accent?"

"Ah… yes I do. I practice. A lot." Is speaking Common a bad thing in Horde territory? Crap! I'm so used to answering back in Common that it just comes out of my mouth whenever I talk. I tried to speak again in Orcish but even I can tell that I sound like a Gnoll. I tried Gutterspeak instead but it only made him burst in laughter.

"Don't pressure yourself sweet cheeks. Only the Trolls, Tauren, and the Orcs themselves are the only ones fully capable of speaking that primitive language." He said with a joyful and entertained voice. "When you're with the Forsaken just speak Common. We're all Humans before we died anyway." And with that, he left laughing out loud into the horizon.

"We're all Humans before we died anyway." The words bounced around my head longer than I thought as I walk down the road to the exit of Tranquillien. The Forsaken are Humans before they died, then why do they ally themselves with the Horde? Being free from the Lich King means that they can now think independently and would that mean that they know they're killing their own people. Or they can't see the Humans in Hillsbrad, Southshore, and Gilneas as their own people. I've heard from wardens that guard Forsaken war prisoners that the Forsaken chose to fight Alliance because they believe they were abandoned at the time they needed them the most. I noticed that this is similar to the justification of the Blood Elves for joining the Horde. The Blood Elves tried to return to service the Alliance but Grand Marshall Garithos doesn't want anything to do with them so instead he imprisoned them for receiving aid from outside forces and ordered their execution. I guess that is part of the reason why the Forsaken and the Blood Elves blend so well together.

Deep in thought, I was looking at ground as I walk not paying attention to those around me. Then suddenly I bumped into something hard like a wall or something else and fell on the ground. I looked up to see what I bumped into but not until I'm sure my visors are secured. It's big, it's furry, it has horns, and it's offering its hand to help me stand up? A Tauren is what he is, gentle and peaceful giants and probably the only member of the Horde the Night Elves respect. He said something that I couldn't understand while bowing its head. Judging by the looks on his face he must be saying sorry. He probably saw the confusion on my face when he switch to speaking Orcish, despite sounding like Gnoll I can actually understand Orcish, and then I figured out that he actually is apologizing. I nod my head in response and gave him a thumb up hoping that I didn't insult him in any way. He walked away with a smile in his face and I gave out a sigh of relief.

"Little lady, you should try looking up while you walk. Taurens aren't hard to see you know." Says the man behind me in Thalassian. "You have to be careful, in Orgrimmar there are people that would kill you if you bumped into them." I turned to see who is talking to me. He has a short red hair that is spiked upward, pale skin and glowing green eyes. He wears red plate armor from the neck down with a couple of gold lining by his sleeves. I also noticed that he is carrying a red pole arm with a tip shaped like fire in his right hand. I looked at him silently and then he continued talking, "You're lucky that Tauren is a druid sent here to _heal_ the land." He pointed his finger in the direction of the Dead Scar. I stood not knowing what to say to him. "Not much of a talker, huh? It's alright I'll talk to you anyway." Then he laughs. "How come a little girl like you has come this far out of the city's protective walls?" He said with a sarcastic or playful or seductive tone, I honestly can't tell. And what does he mean by "little girl?" I may be one of the youngest elves that joined the expedition and I may be the shortest but I won't tolerate such an insult!

"I AM A VETERAN!" I covered my mouth with both hands surprised with the things I just informed the entire world with.

"Sure you are!" he replied with a huge grin. He stood in his full height now, revealing that he is at least six feet and six inches in height, pretty tall even for an elf. The sad thing is even if stood in my full height I can only stand up to five feet and four inches tall, pretty short for an elf. His facial expression suddenly became grim. "But, so is everyone." And then he reverted back to his cheery expression. "What's with the gloomy face?" he says and then he laughs. He turned on his heel and started to walk away from me. "Don't be a stranger!" he yelled one last time before disappearing into the setting sun.

Setting sun? Crap! I took way too long to get out of this place. Now I would have to stay in an inn. I just hope they won't inspect my sack and see that I'm an agent of the Silver Covenant.


End file.
